A huge percentage of failing contracts go down because declarer did not play optimally on the first trick. Similarly, countless contracts are allowed to slip through because the defender in third seat made the wrong play.

With 125 instructive deals, David Bird covers all aspects of the first card played from dummy, the first move by the defender in third seat and the card chosen by declarer from his hand.

Parts I and II contain chapters on declarer play — with topics such as Avoidance Play, Winning in the Right Hand, Blocking the Defenders’ Suit, Setting up a Squeeze, Deceptive Play and Setting up an Endplay — and defense — with topics including Unblocking, Managing Defensive Entries, Deception, Signaling and Disrupting Declarer’s Plan. Parts III and IV contain 44 problems, with each solution triggered by a necessary play at trick one.

Perfect your cardplay at trick one and you will be difficult to beat!

David Bird

David Bird (Southampton, UK) is the world’s most prolific bridge writer. A six-time American Bridge Teachers’ Association Book of the Year award winner, he has over 135 books to his name. David’s columns appear regularly in the ACBL Bridge Bulletin, A New Bridge Magazine, English Bridge, Australian Bridge and other periodicals around the world. He is married with a daughter, a son and two grandchildren.

In Trick One, it is the instructional that predominates, although entertainment is there too, both in the deals themselves and in the author’s habitual clear and sometimes wry presentation of them.
The central point, as the title suggests, is the importance of taking care before playing to the first trick; an important lesson for novice and intermediate players, indeed one that even some experts could usefully apply more consistently. Each chapter ends with a set of ‘Points to Remember’ that usefully summarize the key lessons and will be an aid to revision.